The present invention relates to movement or transfer of product within processing facilities and is particularly suitable for automated loaders of lengths of products such as elongated extruded or stuffed food products in food preparation and production systems.
Conventionally, extruded or stuffed food products such as pasta, dough, and meats such as hot dogs, links, or sausages, can be processed so that the desired food material is extruded or mixed and prepared, then propelled through a xe2x80x9cstuffer machinexe2x80x9d that includes a stuffing nozzle, extrusion machine, or co-extrusion machine. In operation, in certain food items, as the food moves through the stuffing nozzle or extrusion head, a natural or synthetic casing is disposed about and/or deposited or wrapped around the external surface of the food material to form a continuous length of encased elongated food product. To form certain products (such as hotdogs and sausages), the casing can be twisted, tied, nipped, and/or crimped at certain intervals, forming a chain-like string or strand of encased food product. Extruders and co-extruders are available from various commercial manufacturers including, but not limited to, Townsend Engineering Co., located in Des Moines, Iowa. Stuffers are available from various commercial manufacturers including, but not limited to, HITEC Food Equipment, Inc., located in Elk Grove Village, Ill., Townsend Engineering Co., located in Des Moines, Iowa, Robert Reiser and Co., Inc., located in Canton, Mass., and Handtmann, Inc., located in Buffalo Grove, Ill. Exemplary stuffer and/or linker apparatus are also described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,788,563; 5,480,346; 5,049,108; and 4,766,645. The contents of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference as if recited in full herein.
After stuffing or extruding, the encased elongated food product is expelled from the stuffer or extruder via a material discharging exit port. FIG. 1A illustrates a conventional stuffer 10 and stuffer material discharge port 10p. The stuffer discharge port 10p is positioned proximate a xe2x80x9clinkerxe2x80x9d or looping and transferring device 15 (FIG. 1B) that rotates an endless chain of hooks 15h about the discharge port 10p. Generally described, the material discharge port 10p is configured so that, during operation, the product is expelled and directed so that the traveling hooks, which serially travel to be adjacent the discharge port 10p, catch a portion of the length of the product, with the result that the product forms loops on the hooks at certain intervals. More specifically, certain devices are configured so that the hooks 15h travel to the discharge port 10p and the discharge port 10p discharges into a downwardly inclined channel that directs the elongated food downward and, as the hooks turn to face the discharged food, the hooks sequentially individually reach out to grasp the product at certain intervals. Other devices propel the encased product onto hooks that rotate thereabout (typically under) to catch the product at certain intervals to transfer the encased material onto the transfer device. The hooks 15h then suspend the product in a looped configuration (hanging in a vertical orientation) as shown in FIG. 1B, with each hook 15h supporting a single loop of product.
FIG. 1C illustrates a slightly different prior art stuffer 10 and associated linker 15 with hooks that are oriented to rotate in a different plane from that shown in FIG. 1A (i.e., a vertical plane rather than a horizontal plane). In addition, in this prior art stuffer/linker, the discharge port 10p terminates into a short expanse of tubing that forms a rotating discharge nozzle 10r. The rotating nozzle 10r, again, propels the extruded encased product onto the hooks 15h. 
After the product is suspended on the hooks 15h, a rod or stick is typically manually inserted through the suspended looped product above the hooks and below the upper looped portion of the food, and the product is manually lifted up and off the hooks 15h and transferred to a trolley, oven, or other food processing station.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need to provide automated processing systems that can improve the production process to facilitate the loading of food receiving members such as sticks and/or reduce the need for manual labor to load sticks and/or that can more controllably transfer strands of elongated items in an automated manner.
The present invention provides an automated winder system, methods, and devices that can automate the loading of extruded or stuffed product onto a transfer support member such as a stick loader. The automated winders can be configured to remove the need for a hook-based continuous looping system, and/or manual insertion of rods to lift the looped product onto the rods, from the production process. Indeed, in particular embodiments, the automated winder can load the elongated product directly onto a stick or desired support transfer member that can then be used to transfer the product to (and/or through) the next processing station (such as a smoker, oven, curer or the like).
In certain embodiments, the automated winder is configured with an arm that extends a distance away from the discharge port. The arm is configured to repetitively translate a vertical distance so as to travel above and below a suitably aligned transfer member. The arm may be configured to move up and down and/or to rotate in a substantially circular, oval, elliptical, or other desired motion. Typically the generated motion in a path that has two different directions of travel, such as a motion that includes both x and y axis directional components. The transfer member may be configured to (linearly) translate as the arm translates (moved either forward or backward toward or away from the stuffer discharge port) so that the automated winder can load, straddle-wrap or loop, the released product starting at one end portion of the transfer member and terminating at the opposing end portion so that substantially the entire length (or a desired length) of the transfer member is covered with a continuous length of straddled and/or looped product.
Certain embodiments of the present invention are directed towards methods for loading a carrier member with suspended elongated product. The method includes suspending an elongated product over a carrier member in a straddled configuration in which sections of elongated product form bights draped from the carrier member, with serially consecutive bights having a plurality of bends, being draped on opposing sides of the carrier member. In other embodiments, a plurality of discrete segments are straddled and suspended over the carrier member.
In certain embodiments, the system of operations or methods can include: (a) receiving a continuous length of at least one elongated product onto an elongated arm, the elongated arm having opposing receiving and releasing end portions; (b) moving the elongated arm to cause it to travel repetitively along a first desired path; (c) directing the at least one elongated product to travel forward a desired distance over the elongated arm during the moving step; (d) positioning a transfer support member having an associated length in alignment with the elongated arm; then (e) translating the transfer support member along a second desired path that so that the transfer support member travels adjacent the first path as the at least one elongated product is released from the releasing end portion of the elongated arm; and (e) suspending at least one continuous length of released elongated product on the transfer support member in response to the translating step so that the elongated product is arranged in a straddled configuration with (i) a plurality of adjacently arranged non-looped lengths hanging on the same side of the transfer support member and a plurality of different adjacent non-looped lengths hanging on the opposing side of the transfer support member and/or (ii) discrete non-looped spaced apart suspended lengths so that the elongated product has a plurality of suspension contact points spaced apart about a desired length of the transfer support member.
In operation, the elongated item can be directed to travel on the arm a distance away from the discharge port, then to be released off the arm at an end portion thereof, and wrapped about the transfer member. In certain embodiments, the transfer member is a portable stick member upon, which the wrapped continuous product is suspended in a looped or non-looped straddled suspended arrangement, each length of suspended segment and/or loop having a substantially uniform length. The arm may include an enclosed or partially enclosed chute or channel configured and sized to allow the elongated item to move substantially unrestricted therethrough. In other embodiments, the arm has an open face and the product is directed to travel over the arm on the open face. An external environmental housing may be placed over a desired length of the arm. The arm may include a floor that is stationary or moves, or combinations thereof. In certain embodiments, the food support floor is defined by an endless conveyor, a shuttle conveyor, or a stationary surface or combinations of same.
Certain embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods for loading, winding, or looping an elongated item onto a receiving member, such as a stick member. The method includes: (a) receiving a continuous length of an elongated product onto an elongated arm, the elongated arm having opposing receiving and releasing end portions; (b) moving the elongated arm to cause it to move in a repetitive motion; (c) directing the elongated product to travel forward a desired distance over the elongated arm during the moving step; (d) positioning a transport support member (such as, but not limited to, a stick member) in alignment with the elongated arm during the moving step; and then (e) translating the stick member toward or away from the end portion of the elongated arm as the elongated product is released from the releasing end portion of the elongated arm thereby winding the elongated product directly onto the stick member so that the elongated product is arranged in a looped configuration thereon.
Other embodiments are directed to an automated winder for an elongated product. The automated winder includes an elongated arm having an associated length and opposing first and second end portions. In position, the first end portion is adapted to receive an elongated item thereon from an extrusion or stuffer device located upstream of the automated winder. The second end portion is configured to release the elongated item therefrom after, the item travels a desired distance over the length of the arm away from the extrusion device. The winder also includes a winding mechanism attached to the elongated arm a distance from the first end portion thereof. The winding mechanism is configured to cause the elongated arm to repetitively travel in a desired motion pattern so that, in operation, the winding mechanism causes the arm to release the elongated item in a manner that load and/or wind the elongated item about a suitably aligned transfer support member. The loading can be carried out so that the product is looped or straddled in a non-looped suspended configuration onto the transfer support member. Combinations of looped and non-looped suspended segments can also be used.
Other embodiments are directed to a loaded carrier assembly having elongated product thereon. The assembly includes a carrier member and an elongate product suspended on the carrier member in a straddled configuration so that it is draped from the carrier member. The elongated product includes sections that form bights, with serially consecutive bights being formed or located on opposite sides of the carrier member and/or (b) discrete non-looped spaced apart suspended lengths.
Still other embodiments are directed to automated winder systems. The systems can include at least one elongated transfer support member having a length and sized and configured to hold a suspended straddled non-looped (and/or looped) arrangement of an elongated product thereon and an automated winder configured to be cooperably positioned and aligned with the discharge port of an extrusion or stuffer device configured to discharge elongated product therefrom. The automated winder includes an elongated arm having an associated length that may be longer than the length of the transfer support member. The elongated arm having opposing first and second end portions. In position, the first end portion is adapted to receive an elongated item thereon from the extrusion or stuffer device. The second end portion is configured to release the elongated item therefrom after the item travels greater than a major portion of the length of the arm in a direction that is away from the extrusion device. The arm is positioned in spaced apart cooperating alignment with the transfer support member. The winder also includes a winding mechanism attached to the elongated arm. The winding mechanism is configured to cause the elongated arm to repetitively travel in a desired motion so that, in operation, the winding mechanism causes the elongated product to load or wind about the transfer support member as it is released from the second end portion of the arm.
In certain embodiments, the winding mechanism, in operation, the causes the elongated product to straddle the transfer support member in a non-looped arrangement as it is released from the second end portion of the arm.
In particular embodiments, the transfer support member is linearly translated away from the extrusion or stuffer device during operation so as to receive the loaded and/or wound product over a desired length of the support member. The wound product may be arranged in substantially uniform non-looped straddled lengths and/or looped lengths so as to hang suspended from the transfer support member. The system may be arranged so that over a desired time period, the winder is substantially continuously operated to load a plurality of transfer support members that are serially aligned with the arm for a desired interval of time so as to successively transfer and wind elongated product thereon. Further, in certain embodiments, the transfer support member is a stick or rod that can be used to support the elongated product at the next active workstation that may be an oven, a smoker, a curer, or other food preparation/processing station.
These and other objects and aspects of the present invention are explained in detail in the specification set forth below.